Game



Feb. 14, 1939. E. s. SAVAGE GAME Filed Sept. 11, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l HNVENTOR I E. S. SAVAGE GAME Filed Sept. 11, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 14, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4' Claims.

This invention relates to a game of skill and has for its principal object to provide a game using a novel form of missile which will cause the missile to be projected at a high angle of elevation in the playing thereof.

Another object of the invention is to provide a missile for a game which can be accurately directed laterally for its flight.

These and other objects and attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily apparent from the detailed description thereof which follows, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of my novel game with a portion of the target base broken away to show the mounting for one of the detachable diagonally positioned supporting arms of the flexible retaining wall.

Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the target and part of the frame.

Figure 3 is a detail plan view of a portion of a modified form of the boundary wall shown attached to the frame.

Figures 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D are plan views of various forms of the novel missiles used in the game.

Figure 5 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the elastic supports used for the projection of the missiles with a missile placed thereon and the actuating member held in contact with the missile preparatory for the projection thereof.

Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view of the elastic support on a playing surface, the missile and actuating member illustrated in Figure 5.

In the several figures of the drawings like reference numerals indicate like parts.

The novel form of the missile used for the game and its manner of projection causes this type of missile to be projected in a trajectory flight having a very high angle of elevation. This is utilized in the playing of the game by having the missiles shot at a series of elevated target receptacles and it is the object of the game to have these targets catch the missiles when properly directed by the actuating member and caused to be projected by the compression and reaction of its elastic support.

Each missile comprises a substantially flat member made of any suitable, preferably light weight material, or composition such as aluminum, bone, Celluloid, Bakelite. The missiles may have various forms, some of which are illustrated in Figs. 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D. Each of the missiles shown has an outline in which the edge of one or more peripheral sections of the perimeter extends closer to the center of the missile than the adjacent'edge portion of the perimeter on each side of such a peripheral section. For example, the perimeter of missile A is provided with four equally spaced indentations a, each of 5 which defines a peripheral section in the perimeter having an edge on which substantially all points are closer to the center of the missile than the extremities b of the missile located between the indentations. These peripheral edge sec- 10 tions of the various missiles are hereinafter referred to as the releasing edges and are instrumental in causing the missile to be projected along a forwardly directed trajectory having a very high angle of elevation as will hereinafter 15 appear.

The missile is operated by means of an actuating member or play stick in the form of a pointed or rounded rod III which, as illustrated in Figures. 1, 5 and 6, extends from a suitable handle for its manipulation by the hand. To project the missile by means of the actuating memher, it is placed on an elastic support I2 such as a piece of felt. The pointed or rounded end of the actuating member is then brought into contact with the top surface of the missile to apply pressure thereagainst and slightly depress the missile and compress the. elastic support underneath it. While pressure is exerted against the missile the actuating member is drawn rear- 30 wardly toward one of the releasing edges a and made to slide thereoif to suddenly release the missile and allow the reaction of the previously compressed elastic support to project the missile into the air. The height and distance of the 35 flight of the missile are governed by the pressure applied to the missile at the instant of its release by the actuating member.

Obviously the missile is depressed into a slightly angular position in the elastic supporting surface. For this reason the compression of the elastic support is greatest under the rear portion of the missile in the direction of which the actuating member is drawn. The reaction at the moment of release of the compressed elastic supporting surface from the slightly inclined depression of the missile, as above described, effects an upward thrust of the missile which results in the desired trajectory flight with a high angle of elevation.

The release of the missile by the actuating member at a point closer tothe center than the extremities of the missile on either side of the releasing point increases the area of the elastic support under compression at the moment of release. This is largely instrumental in causing 55 the elastic support to project the missile to the desired height in a trajectory having a high angle of elevation instead of a trajectory having a low angle of elevation such as is effected in projecting the disc shaped missiles in the game of Tiddly Winks. In the circular disc shaped missiles of the latter game the releasing edge is located at the extremities of the missile so that no part of it extends beyond it. In this way the pressure of the actuating member against the missile is transmitted to a minimum portion of the support underneath it at the moment of release so that the resulting reaction of the elastic support cannot project the missile as high or at the desired angle of elevation. The projecting force for the Tiddly Winks missiles is mainly produced by a squeezing of the edge portion of the missile between the actuating member and the elastic support and the sudden release from this squeezing effect as the actuating member slides off the edge of the missile. The result is a trajectory for the missile having a low angle of elevation which cannot be used in my game. Another advantage of this invention lies in the greater accuracy in laterally directing the flight of the missile which is due to the fact that when the rear edge of the missile is depressed in the act of shooting, the depressed edge extends a considerable distance on both sides of the contact point of the actuating member and the extremities of the releasing edge uniformly position the missile whether the actuating member is made to slide off the exact middle of the releasing edge or to one or the other side of the middle. This is not true of the ordinary round missile in which a slight variation in the sliding oil point of the actuating member greatly afiects the lateral direction of the line of flight making it difficult to accurately direct such a missile. It will now be apparent that I have devised a new and useful game which embodies the features and advantages enumerated as desirable in the statement of the invention and the above description, and while I have, in the present instance, shown and described preferred embodiments thereof which will give in practice satisfactory and reliable results, it is to be understood that these embodiments are susceptible of modification in various particulars without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages.

Certain features of this invention shown in the accompanying drawings but not covered by the claims herein are covered by my divisional application filed January 5, 1939, Serial No. 249,440.

I claim:

1. A substantially flat missile adapted to be placed on an elastic support for temporary depression thereon and release therefrom by an actuating member forced against and movable over the top of the missile, said missile having a plurality of indentations extending radially into the missile to provide a plurality of releasing edges having outwardly extending opposing sides.

2. A substantially fiat missile adapted to be placed on an elastic support for temporary depression thereon and release therefrom by an actuating member forced against and movable over the top of the missile, said missile having an indentation extending radially into the missile to provide a releasing edge having outwardly ex tending opposite sides.

3. A missile adapted to be placed on an elastic support for temporary depression thereon and release therefrom by an actuating member forced against and movable over the top of the missile, said missile having supporting peripheral portions spaced from each other, and a releasing edge over which the actuating member may be drawn to release the missile, said releasing edge being intermediate said peripheral portions and being spaced materially inwardly from a straight. line drawn between and contacting with said peripheral portions.

4. A missile adapted to be placed on an elastic support for temporary depression thereon and release therefrom by an actuating member forced against and movable over the top of the missile, said missile being formed of a relatively stifi sheet having a plurality of extreme supporting portions at a material distance from the center of the sheet, the periphery of said sheet being recessed intermediate two of said extreme supporting portions to provide an actuating member releasing edge lying materially inwardly toward the center of the sheet from a straight line drawn between the two adjacent extreme supporting portions.

EDWARD S. SAVAGE. 

